Adobe and Nokia announced a $10 million Open Screen Project fund designed to help developers create applications and services for mobile, desktop and consumer electronics devices using the Adobe Flash Platform.

The new fund is a result of the Open Screen Project, an initiative of more than 20 industry leaders set to enable a consistent experience for web browsing and standalone applications.

“We are excited about the Open Screen Project Fund and the possibilities it offers to designers and developers worldwide,” said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president, Platform Business Unit at Adobe. “With close to 40 percent of all new mobile devices shipped with Flash Lite in 2008, the fund will enable more developers to bring their rich content and services to a large number of mobile users.”

Developers are invited to submit concepts for applications that are based on the Adobe Flash Platform, will run on Nokia devices, and will work on multiple screens, including mobile, desktop and consumer electronics devices. Applications will be reviewed for how innovative and compelling the user experience is, how robust the application or planned implementation is, and how well it exploits the capabilities and features of Nokia devices, Adobe Flash and Adobe AIR, which enables developers to use proven web technologies to build applications that extend outside the browser.

Projects submitted for development will be reviewed by a group of multi-screen application and services experts from Open Screen Project partners including Adobe and Nokia. Focus areas include: entertainment; social networking; productivity; gaming; news and information. Developers retain all rights to their applications while Adobe and Nokia have the right to evaluate, test and promote the content.

Announced in May 2008, the Open Screen Project is designed to enable a consistent runtime environment across screens. The initiative is dedicated to enable web content, standalone applications and full web browsing across televisions, set-top boxes, mobile devices and other consumer electronics that take advantage of Adobe AIR and Adobe Flash Platform capabilities.

Adobe also announced that Palm joined the Open Screen Project. This will help deliver Adobe Flash Player for smartphones on the new Palm webOS platform. The capabilities of the web-centric Palm webOS, combined with Flash Player, will enable webOS device users to have a richer, more complete Internet experience.

Flash Player for smartphones is expected to be available to handset manufacturers at the end of 2009.